But the quiet, 6-foot-5 Tulane basketball player made an impression two years ago during his first day on campus. Kris Richard, now a senior, split Timmons' lip wide open during a pickup basketball game.

"I was coming down on the wing and he was setting up for a block and, I'm mean, we didn't know each other. So he didn't know I could dunk, and I didn't think he would try to block it, " Richard recalled. "I kind of struck my forearm in his mouth to keep him away, and I dunked it with the left hand. And he was like, 'OK, OK, good dunk.' "

"I think it made me a stronger player, " Timmons said of his introduction to college basketball.

Richard marveled about Timmons' moxie back then as a freshman.

"He really tried to block me. He stood his ground and tried to block it, " said Richard, before adding: "It just didn't work out like he planned."

From that day, Timmons vowed to get Richard back. And there is an ongoing, light-hearted debate over whether the task has been accomplished or not.

"He counts one time he caught the rim when my back was turned -- he counts that. That's not a dunk on me, " the 6-5 guard said.

But Timmons did get a monster dunk on Papa Dia, SMU's 6-9 forward, earlier this month at Fogelman Arena, evoking gasps from the crowd.

Timmons is an undersized frontcourt player who keeps surprising people with his athleticism and grit, which has been his pattern since he took up the game as a youngster. The Forth Worth, Texas, native is averaging 16.9 points (sixth in Conference USA), 8.7 rebounds (fourth in conference), both easily the best on the Green Wave, and is second on the team in assists. Last season, he made the Conference USA All-Freshman team.

He and his teammates are doing all they can to turn around the Green Wave, which has lost 12 games in a row.

"The guys he's playing against are bigger, stronger, " Kendall's dad, Donald Timmons, said. "He takes a beating to do it, but he finds a way to get it done because he wants to win. He wants to compete so bad."

Physical education

This isn't the first time Timmons has absorbed physical punishment in the paint a couple nights a week.

"Kendall unfortunately came along at an early time in my life where I was still playing a lot of basketball and dragging him along from gym to gym with me, " Donald said. "Once he got enough size to play, he played, also. So he got to play with older, more mature kids -- so it kind of helped him develop a little better than a normal kid would because he's playing against people who are way better, way older, way more mature than him. I think that paid off.

"Actually during his high school times, we used to play against some college-level kids, so he got a lot of experience at an early age."

It definitely taught Timmons how to take a lick, keep his mouth shut and keep moving toward the basket. The youngster wasn't about to call a foul against guys in some cases decades older than him.

It's the reason Timmons will get brutally knocked down in the lane and pop up like a cartoon character that just got air puffed back into him.

"It really doesn't bother me, " Timmons said of the contact. "My strong suit is driving, it's always been like that. I'm used to not getting every single call because I would say the game would be stopped every time I drove pretty much. I just learned to play through it and just try to adjust."

He paused, then added matter-of-factly: "I've already been hurt, I know what it's like."

All those poundings he took didn't bode well as Timmons reached college basketball. Seven games into his freshman season in 2008-09 he exited a game with considerable back pain.

Just part of the wear and tear, he thought. He woke up the next morning and went to work.

"The next day at practice my back was kind of sore and I thought it was just from the game, " Timmons said. "It just kept going and kept going and getting worse and worse and then one morning, I couldn't even bend over."

Doctors found a stress fracture in his lower spine. Timmons wore a fiberglass back brace for nearly two months to strengthen it before beginning rehabilitation. He missed most of the season and was redshirted.

The situation wasn't ideal for a young player trying to catch then-Coach Dave Dickerson's eye. Timmons didn't become a regular part of the starting lineup until nearly halfway through last season.

Now he's an indispensable part of the lineup. Timmons averages 35.5 minutes a game -- the most on the team.

"He is a well-conditioned athlete and never has trouble with anything he does, " Tulane Coach Ed Conroy said. "He plays a lot of minutes in games -- because he's versatile, because he plays so many different positions at practice. He rarely comes off the floor at practice."

Strong, silent type

The game plan for Green Wave foes is simple: stop Timmons.

He is the leading or secondary source for nearly every category on the stat sheet, but those numbers come the hard way.

He doesn't have a soft, gliding shot that flirts ever so slightly with the backboard before going through the rim. He doesn't possess unworldly quickness or the smooth game of more polished players. Timmons' greatest attribute is his unabated competitiveness and drive. He simply won't give up, even if he has to rebound five of his misses in a row before finding the target the sixth time.

"Even during practice there's going to be times where I don't know if anyone else knows what's going on, but he's talking trash as he goes on the court about whatever rules or restrictions I put on that drill to make it even -- or maybe put his team at a disadvantage, " Conroy said. "He certainly notices every time I do that, and wants to point out when he's still winning.

"You know what makes him tick. He's really determined to come out on top with everything he does."

At some point all that intensity had to find an outlet. It poured out Dec. 30 at Fogelman Arena against Lamar, when Timmons scored 33 points with an eye-popping 19 rebounds -- both career highs.

He made a phone call after the game to his dad.

"His first question was, 'Did you see the game?'" Donald said. "I said, of course I saw the game. And he said, 'What did you think?' I went on to tell him how proud I was of him and so on and so forth. Kendall has forever been fighting to get the recognition as a basketball player since he has been playing in high school. He's never quite got the spotlight he wanted."

Timmons' production has been steady -- despite the fact that every opponent knows he's the driving force behind the Green Wave.

"Every time ... he gets some type of challenge, he raises his game up a few notches, and that's what makes him so fun to coach, " Conroy said.

Just don't expect much commentary from Timmons about his game.

"I know in interviews and when you talk to him, he seems reserved, but when he's competing, man, he can be really tough, " Donald said.

. . . . . . .

Tammy Nunez can be reached at tnunez@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3405.